Sergei Prokofiev [antikvár]

FOREWORD This is not just another biography of a musician: it is a case history of what can and did happen even to a world-famous creative artist in Soviet Russia—a country that prides itself on treating talented men as a privileged class of society. (Stalin referred to these creative artists as "the engineers of the human soul.") Therefore, I feel compelled to bring to the reader's attention the importance of every contributing detail in Prokofiev's personal and professional life. For what may seem to us unexceptionable can be of grave importance in the eyes of the Communist authorities in Russia. Under the Soviet system the people, along with all other forms and products of national wealth, are the property of the state. No Soviet citizen, no matter how humble or imposing his achievements, can enjoy freedom as we know it in the free world. He is given ample opportunities for his work so long as it serves the interest of the state. But he is denied free access to information, since he has no access to anything unauthorized by the government. Not even his personal matters can safely be regarded as private—his home may be searched, his correspondence censored. Indeed, his choices of work and marriage must be approved by the government. My treatment of the subject of this book is based not only on materials published outside of Russia but on Sergei Prokofiev's own